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tell the people in that Arkansas suburb that the folks up here in Canada don’t abide by the decisions Canadian politicians and multinational oil corporations are making when it comes to tar sands extraction

Dear Eldy,I was one of the people watching in horror this last week as a US neighborhood was flooded with thick, black Alberta tar sands oil due to a faulty ExxonMobil pipeline. What a nightmare.

I wanted to tell the people in that Arkansas suburb that the folks up here in Canada don’t abide by the decisions Canadian politicians and multinational oil corporations are making when it comes to tar sandsextraction. We don’t stand behind the impact they are making on First Nations and local communities here or on families in the US We don’t stand behind the destruction of Boreal forest, the pollution of our water and the catastrophic effects that burning the tar sands is having on the global climate.

Who does stand behind the tar sands? Prime Minister Harper does. Harper is not loyal to Canadians (not a surprise considering only 37% of us voted for him). He is loyal to oil companies. And why wouldn’t he be? It’s a family business. Stephen Harper’s father worked for Imperial Oil for 30 years. Imperial Oil—now owned mostly by ExxonMobil—was one of Prime Minister Harper’s first employers.

I want President Obama to understand in no uncertain terms that Stephen Harper does not speak for Canadians. He speaks for oil companies.